Galaxy Gear S2 3G: Samsung reinvigorates the wristwatch

That’s one reason the Samsung Gear S2 is a breath of fresh air. However, the Gear S2 does feature NFC (which Samsung Pay also utilizes), which will be the technology used to make mobile payments possible on the smartwatch. On trend, it’s Samsung’s first watch that’s round, but it’s also different because it runs on Tizen, a new OS based on Linux that Samsung is getting behind.

Beyond the Tizen OS under the hood, which seems to work well and quickly, the big new feature is the bezel around the watch face, which you rotate to navigate between apps, widgets and screens. It’s not clear how much of this $6 Million Samsung threw in, but it’s an important step for all VR companies to take, investing in content creation will help the entire platform gain ground, in turn helping them sell units and build market share.

Some of the other changes include a new notification indicator that will inform the users when the watch loses its Bluetooth connection with the smartphone. Compared with the $199 Innovator Edition launched past year by Samsung, the new model is lighter and created to use more Samsung smartphones as their display.

What’s bad: With the new OS, there are not that many third-party apps, and it’s even missing apps that are available for Apple Watch and Android Wear. What’s interesting: One of the biggest issues I have with smartwatches is that it feels like the public is beta testing this evolving product for giant electronics companies, but you can see how the products are improving. LG, on the other hand, has been selling its NIS 1,900 Urban Wear smartwatch in Israel for some time, though its sales operation has been running quietly under the radar. One of my knocks is that the entire product category — and this model specifically — is still too expensive, especially because you still need a smartphone for it to work properly.

Many Israelis have already bought the Apple Watch by other means, though the US giant is expected to officially release its Watch in Israel in the coming months.